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2020 Earth Water Baseball Classic Qualification
The 2020 Earth Water Baseball Classic will occur in October and November 2020, in Japan. 42 teams will qualify for it, based on qualifications levied out by their association. Forty-two teams will qualify for this tournament. The host (Japan) and the defending champion (Sweden) automatically qualify, while the remaining 40 will be determined during the qualification period from April 2019 through April 2020. The number of spots given to each association was determined by FIWBA. *North and Central America and the Carribbean: 9 *Europe: 10 (plus Sweden automatically qualified as defending champion) *Broceania: 4 *South America: 5 *Asia: 6 (plus Japan automatically qualified as host) *Africa: 5 The final spot will be given to the winner of the Feeney Cup, a tourament held in April between the 10th place in North America, 11th place team in Europe, the 5th and 6th place teams in Broceania, the 6th place teams in South America, the 6th and 7th place teams in Africa, and the 7th place team Asia. Per tradition, the Feeney Cup is held in the same venue as the EWBC Final, which this year is in Tokyo. Broceana There are 12 members of BWBBF (the Broceana Water Baseball Federation), which includes Australia and many Pacific Island nations. Qualification consists of the Group Round and the Wild Card Round. The Group Round occured from late April through early June 2019. The 12 nations were ranked 1-12 (based on April 2019 FIWBA rankings), with odd-numbered countries in Group A and even-numbered countries in Group B. The Group Round is a quadruple-round robin turnament in which each nation plays two two-game series against each rival nation (one home, one away). If a Group Round game was tied after 12 innings, the Group Round game would be declared a draw and count as half-win, half-loss in the standings. The top nation from each group qualified for the Earth Water Baseball Classic! The second-and third-place nations qualified for the Wild Card Round. The Wild Card Round will occur in November 2019 and feature the second-and third- placed teams from each group. The second-placed team from Group A will battle the third-placed team from Group B, and vice-versa, in a best-of-7 series. The second-place teams will have home advantage, hosting games 1, 2, 6, and 7, while the third-placed team will host games 3, 4, and 5. The winners of these two series will qualify for the Earth Water Baseball Classic! The losers will qualify for the Feeney Cup. Group Round Matchdays occurred on April 27-28, 30-May 1, May 4-5, 7-8, 11-12, 18-19, 21-22, 25-26, 28-29, and June 1-2. Tiebreaker games were not necessary, but would have been played on June 4. Wild Card Round The Wild Card is scheduled to have games played November 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17. North America There are 41 members of NAWBBF (the North American Water Baseball Federation), which also includes Central America and the Carribbean. Qualification consists of two preliminary rounds, the hexoganal qualifier, and the wild card playoff. The first preliminary round features 13 best-of-3 series involving teams ranked 16-41. The second preliminary round features 10 best-of-3 series involving the 13 winners of the first preliminary round and the 7 teams ranked 9-15. Both of these rounds are held in April 2019 In October and November 2019, the hexagonal qualifier features the top 8 seeds, as well as the 10 winners of the second preliminary round. These 18 teams are divided into three groups of six and play a double-round-robin. The top three from each group are in the Earth Water Baseball Classic! The three fourth place teams play in a 3-team Wild Card Playoff in the highest ranked team receives a bye, while the other two teams play a best-of-3 series. The winner of that series plays the top seed in another best-of-3 series. The winner of that series will participate in the Feeney Cup in April 2020, for the final spot in the Classic. First Preliminary Round The draw was held on February 19, 2019. Teams ranked 16-28 were considered "seeded," while teams ranked 29-41 were "unseeded." Each match-up featured a seeded team against an unseeded team. All match-ups were best-of-3, with the unseeded team hosting game 1 and the seeded team hosting games 2-3. For all matches, Game 1 was held on April 3 at the unseeded nation, Game 2 on April 6 at the seeded nation, and if necessary, Game 3 on April 7 at the seeded nation. On the table below, the seeded team's score is listed first for all games. Second Preliminary Round The draw was held on April 9, 2019. Teams ranked 9-15, as well as the three highest-ranked survivors from the first preliminary round were considered "seeded," while the remaining teams were "unseeded." Each match-up featured a seeded team against an unseeded team. All match-ups were best-of-3, with the unseeded team hosting game 1 and the seeded team hosting games 2-3. For all matches, Game 1 was held on April 14 at the unseeded nation, Game 2 on April 17 at the seeded nation, and if necessary, Game 3 on April 18 at the seeded nation (due to Easter falling on April 21, all games in this round were moved up three days from their standard Wed-Sat-Sun approach). Hexoganal Qualifier The draw was held on June 4, 2019. The top 8 teams and the ten survivors of the second prelinary round are ranked 1-18 based on FIWBA rankings as of February 2019. Teams were placed into six pots (ranks 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18) Three groups of six were drawn, with each group consisting of one teams from each pot. A full double round robin tournament was employed, with match-days occurring on October 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, and 30, and November 2, 6, 9, and 13. Any potential tiebreaker game would be played at a neutral venue on November 16.